Creating Compelling Video Content for Social Media

June 29, 2017

Ryan Riggins

It shouldn’t surprise you that video makes up a massive percent of social content in today’s world. Between YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat, and Instagram Stories, video content is everywhere providing us with hours upon hours of information and entertainment. However, creating the right video content for your brand’s social audience can be tricky. Even more challenging is creating compelling content without any formal training or expertise.

Let me help with that. While some channels offer basic video tools, here are tips for creating videos for use across all social channels.

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE

Most importantly, you need to know the audience you are trying to reach and engage with your video content. So many videos miss the mark because brands solely focus on themselves and don’t consider fully their audience’s interests and needs. How do you know your audience and differentiate your content from the other 100 million hours of video that are watched on Facebook and other channels every day? At INK, our content begins on a foundation of research. When you have a good understanding of who you are aiming to reach, you can craft every part of the creative that follows with intention and precision.

KNOW YOUR GOALS

Once your ideal audience has been identified, create a clear objective for your video:– Are you trying to introduce your brand to new audiences? (Impressions)

All of these objectives are essential to consider in your marketing mix. However, creating content that is tailored to each individual objective will put you in a better position to achieve that goal. Avoid trying to do too much with one video to keep your messages clear and your creativity on track.

Armed with audience analysis and clear goals, now is the time to start thinking about creating your video.

KNOW YOUR TOOLS

Not a film producer or digital animator? Have a small budget? Not a problem. There are plenty of tools out there to help you create quality videos for social without breaking your marketing budget.

Budget-Friendly Bundle

One tool that I have recently come to love is Promo by Slidely. Promo combines high-quality audio and video with an easy-to-use production interface to help small businesses create video content specifically for social. According to Digiday, 85 percent of video views happen with the sound off. This makes Promo’s emphasis on incorporating text into videos a crucial element to the success of the tool and the content you can create with it.

Mastering Mobile Video Content

Another great resource to consider is something you probably have with you at all times — your smartphone. Product Hunt, the digital community for app aficionados, recently curated the Mobile Marketing Studio Collection. This collection includes apps for creating and distributing. The two mobile apps that stand out to me are from a couple of extremely well-known names in the creative space – Cameo by Vimeo and Adobe Spark. Both apps allow you to easily edit footage you’ve captured with your smartphone, add a few visual elements for interest, and export for sharing right from your photos.

Creative Time-Saver

If you are a creative person with a basic understanding of some professional-grade tools, my last recommendation is for you. Motion Array is a membership-based website that delivers high-quality resources and templates to help the creative-content producer save time and present a fantastic final product.

While I’ve only listed a few resources here, the possibilities are endless. Go ahead and do some exploring, set up some demos, and pick the mix of tools that work best to meet your video creation needs.

I would love to continue the conversation on video content on social. What are your favorite tools for social video creation? Have any examples of branded content that you absolutely love? Go ahead and drop them in the comments below. You can also hit me up personally at @ryan_riggins.